Late last year, at our annual STATE OF ASIA conference, we hosted a conversation on the economic developments in Japan, China, and India.After decades of stagnation, Japan’s economy is showing optimism from structural shifts like labor market reforms and wage increases that are finally starting to pay off.In China, growth has peaked and the government is yet to succeed in convincing its population it’s okay to spend money.All the while, India is now the fastest-growing developing economy and scrambling to shed its protectionist past in order to create a lot more much-needed jobs.This, and much more, was discussed in three 12-minute conversations by:Garima Mohan, Senior Fellow in the Indo-Pacific program at the German Marshall Fund of the United StatesAlicia García Herrero, Chief Economist Asia Pacific at NatixisYumiko Murakami, General Partner at MPower Partners Fund, L.P.More information on the conference, the speakers, plus videos and summaries, are available on our website.This episode is from Asia Society Switzerland's STATE OF ASIA podcast, bringing you exclusive, engaging conversations with leading minds on issues that shape Asia and affect us all. More info and other episodes: https://asiasociety.org/switzerland/podcast-state-asia. 

Kaiser Kuo, host of the long-running Sinica podcast, joins us in Zurich to discuss the evolving narrative on China, and why the West is so often 'stunned' by Chinese breakthroughs in electric vehicles, green technology, or, most recently: AI, with DeepSeek.We explore the reasons behind the challenges of reporting on China, the importance of strategic empathy, and the shifting dynamics of global influence, particularly in relation to American exceptionalism.Recommendations mentioned at the end of the episode:Chartbook, by Adam ToozePekingnology and The East is Read, by Zichen WangInterconnected, by Kevin XuBaiguan, by Robert WuChinese Cooking DemystifiedPlayground, by Richard PowersDal recipe

India and Indonesia, the juggernaut democracies of South and Southeast Asia, both ended 2024 with new governments that hold new ambitions. How will this pan out in the year to come? We talked about this with Dewi Fortuna Anwar, one of Indonesia’s foremost foreign policy experts; and Garima Mohan, Senior Fellow in the Indo-Pacific Program at the German Marshall Fund. The conversation is moderated by James Crabtree, 2024 TOY Senior Fellow at Asia Society Switzerland, and was recorded at the third edition of our STATE OF ASIA conference, held last November in Zurich.More information on the conference, the speakers, plus videos and summaries, are available on our website.

China is undergoing unprecedented changes domestically, while also dealing with the challenges of a volatile world. Listen to Qing Wang, host of the popular Chinese-language podcast The Weirdo; Zichen Wang, Research Fellow at the Center for China and Globalization; and Adam Tooze, economic historian and professor at Columbia University discuss the state of China. The discussion is moderated by Finbarr Birmingham, Europe correspondent for the South China Morning Post, and was recorded at STATE OF ASIA, the flagship conference hosted by Asia Society Switzerland last November, in Zurich. This episode is from Asia Society Switzerland's STATE OF ASIA podcast, bringing you exclusive, engaging conversations with leading minds on issues that shape Asia and affect us all. More info and other episodes: https://asiasociety.org/switzerland/podcast-state-asia. 

We're kicking off the year with two great minds discussing the State of the World as Asia's global importance continues to grow, Europe seems somewhat lost, and the U.S. is preparing for the return of Donald Trump to the White House. Listen to Asia Society President & CEO Kyung-wha Kang and economic historian Adam Tooze, professor at Columbia University in New York. Their conversation was recorded at STATE OF ASIA, the flagship conference hosted by Asia Society Switzerland last November, in Zurich.This episode is from Asia Society Switzerland's STATE OF ASIA podcast, bringing you exclusive, engaging conversations with leading minds on issues that shape Asia and affect us all. More info and other episodes: https://asiasociety.org/switzerland/podcast-state-asia.

Deepti Kapoor's Age of Vice, published in 2023, is a story of power, corruption, and complicity, set in modern India. In the early 2000s, the lives of Ajay, Neda, and Sunny – the novel's three main characters – cross in New Delhi. There is idealism, optimism even; but also crime, drugs, and violence, as Sunny Wadia follows in the footsteps of his powerful father. Age of Vice, which became a New York Times bestseller and will be adapted into a tv series, is a deeply researched portrait of a changing country, with a fast-growing economy, and ever greater inequality. Deepti visited Zurich in October 2023 to talk about the book at Asia Society Switzerland's Big Picture event. The conversation was moderated by James Crabtree, 2024 TOY Senior Fellow at Asia Society Switzerland and himself author of The Billionaire Raj, a well-received book on crony capitalism and the rise of India's billionaire class. More info and other episodes: https://asiasociety.org/switzerland/podcast-state-asia

China and India seem to be en route a to better, or less bad, relationship for the first time in years. Germany published its first 'Focus on India' policy paper, immediately followed by a visit of Chancellor Scholz to New Delhi. The new EU Commission has specifically named India as an important part of its strategies. Russia, just like India a founding member of BRICS and host of that forum's 2024 summit, has its own pressing reasons to maintain the historical ties with India. And then there's the Quad, in which India cooperates ever closer with the United States, Australia, and Japan. What is India making of this momentum? Will it stick to its policy of non-alignment, or is, despite all the approaches from all sides, nonetheless a tilt to the West visible?  On this episode, we discuss all this with Garima Mohan, Senior Fellow in the Indo-Pacific program at the German Marshall Fund, where she leads the work on India and heads the India Trilateral Forum. Her research focuses on Europe-India ties, EU foreign policy in Asia, and security in the Indo-Pacific. This episode is from Asia Society Switzerland's STATE OF ASIA podcast, bringing you exclusive, engaging conversations with leading minds on issues that shape Asia and affect us all. More info and other episodes: https://asiasociety.org/switzerland/podcast-state-asia. 

On November 6, 2024, leading global thinker Adam Tooze delivered Asia Society Switzerland's third annual State of Asia Address in front of a full house in the prestigious aula of the University of Zurich. Listen to the address in this episode of the podcast.Tooze talked about the different impact the return of Donald Trump as U.S. President has for Europe and Asia, about Asia in a time of polycrisis, and about the importance of keeping track of what’s happening in Asia.Tooze holds the Shelby Cullom Davis chair of History at Columbia University in New York City. In 2019, Foreign Policy Magazine named him one of the top Global Thinkers of the decade. Chartbook, his newsletter on economics, geopolitics and history, has over 120,000 subscribers. He is a columnist for Foreign Policy, where he also hosts a weekly economics podcast, Ones & Tooze.This episode is from Asia Society Switzerland's STATE OF ASIA podcast, bringing you exclusive, engaging conversations with leading minds on issues that shape Asia and affect us all. More info and other episodes: https://asiasociety.org/switzerland/podcast-state-asia.

’The Weirdo’ is a podcast for people who live up to its name. It’s a very popular weekly Chinese-language show, where younger generation Chinese living both inside China and elsewhere come together to talk about topics ranging from international relations to personal relationships, from current events to the big issues of our time. It’s, as the hosts say it, about ‘human survival in a complex and ever-changing world’.  On this episode, we speak with Qing Wang, award-winning journalist and one of the hosts of ’The Weirdo’, about not fitting in, the courage to say no, how Europe’s image has changed among people in China – and not for the better. Qing is one of the speakers at our flagship STATE OF ASIA conference on November 7 in Zurich. Have a look at the full line-up and find information on how to get tickets on our website.This episode is from Asia Society Switzerland's STATE OF ASIA podcast, bringing you exclusive, engaging conversations with leading minds on issues that shape Asia and affect us all. More info and other episodes: https://asiasociety.org/switzerland/podcast-state-asia.

On October 20, 2024, Indonesia will inaugurate Prabowo Subianto as its new president. Ever since his election win back in February, world leaders have been courting Prabowo, meeting with him even before he has taken office. Prabowo seems to love presidenting around the world much more than current President Joko Widodo did during his ten years in office. If all goes well, says Dewi Fortuna Anwar, our guest on this episode, Indonesia under Prabowo could claim a much more active role on the world stage to deal with global issues like climate change and energy security. But Prabowo is also known to be temperamental and at times unpredictable, finding particular joy in sneering at Europe. This episode is from Asia Society Switzerland's STATE OF ASIA podcast, bringing you exclusive, engaging conversations with leading minds on issues that shape Asia and affect us all. More info and other episodes: https://asiasociety.org/switzerland/podcast-state-asia.